Photo Courtesy of The Indianapolis Star  Peyback Classic VII: Hamilton SE 17, Zionsville 15   Nat Newell The Indianapolis Star Article Archived: 9/11/2006 It's known as the red zone. Oh no! Hamilton Southeastern fans are disappointed a Royals receiver can't make a catch with four seconds left in the first half at the RCA Dome. That small plot of turf in front of the end zone where football games are won and lost. But when Zionsville High School got inside the 20-yard line Friday night, it was seeing red, white and blue. Hamilton Southeastern -- with its patriotic color scheme -- pressured Zionsville quarterback Tyler Reimer into an incompletion on a potential game-tying two-point conversion with two seconds left to clinch a 17-15 victory in the opener of PeyBack Classic VII at the RCA Dome. It was the fourth time in Zionsville's five opportunities inside the 20-yard line that the Hamilton Southeastern defense held it out of the end zone. "In the fourth quarter, I looked up at the scoreboard and was surprised," Zionsville coach Larry McWhorter said. "I don't know what our yardage was, but we'd been going up and down the field and we didn't have much to show for it. Give (Hamilton Southeastern) a lot of credit." Zionsville (2-2) had first-and-goal from the Hamilton Southeastern 7-yard line in the first quarter but had to settle for a 22-yard field goal from Reimer. The Eagles had a first down at the 19 on their next possession but turned the ball over on downs. On the opening drive of the second half, a holding penalty on second-and-2 from the 20 wiped out an apparent touchdown and Reimer eventually missed a 39-yard field goal. Southeastern, ranked fourth in Class 5A, got its offense going in the second half behind tailback Marcus Spann (nine carries for 77 yards and three receptions for 24 yards in the second half) and took a 7-3 lead on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Kiel to Josh Arnold with 44 seconds left in the third quarter. Zionsville answered quickly as Jon Pavey caught an 84-yard touchdown pass from Reimer to make it 9-7. Southeastern retook the lead on a 32-yard field goal by Michael Stollmeyer with 8:54 remaining. The Royals (4-0) added a touchdown on their next possession for the eight-point lead with 5:06 remaining. Zionsville finally converted in the red zone as, on fourth-and-goal from the 4, Pavey found an opening on the right side of the end zone for the touchdown with two seconds left after the original play had broken down. Pavey finished with 10 catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns. But on the two-point conversion try, the Hamilton Southeastern defense pressured Reimer and his desperation pass fell incomplete. It was the fifth time in the six meetings since these teams began playing annually as members of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference the game was decided by seven points or fewer. "We don't talk about shutouts," said Hamilton Southeastern coach Rob Cutter, whose team was second in the state in scoring defense entering the game, allowing an average of 2.0 points. "We talk about making sure we keep them out of the end zone. We can give up yards, but we don't want to give up touchdowns." Hamilton SE 0 0 7 10 -- 17 Zionsville 3 0 6 6 -- 15 H--Josh Arnold 6 pass from Brandon Kiel (Michael Stollmeyer kick) Z--Jon Pavey 84 pass from Reimer (kick fail) H--FG 32 Stollmeyer H--Josh Powers 3 run (Stollmeyer kick) Z--Pavey 4 pass from Reimer (pass fail) HSE Zionsville First downs 18 13 Rushes-Yards 26-153 35-101 Passing Yards 138 263 Comp-Att-Int 13-26-1 18-26-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0 Penalties-Yards 3-35 5-44 Punts-Avg. 3-32.0 2-32.5 RUSHING--Hamilton Southeastern, Marcus Spann 15-74, Mitchell Armstrong 4-35, Powers 5-26, Kiel 2-18. Zionsville, Carson Cramer 8-43, John Braun 10-33, Reimer 12-14, Ryan Preuss 2-7, Blake Lueders 2-3, Scott Law 1-1. PASSING--Hamilton Southeastern, Kiel 12-23-1 123, Powers 1-3-0 15. Zionsville, Reimer 18-26-0 263. RECEIVING--Hamilton Southeastern, Spann 5-47, Ricky Wellington 1-34, Nate Powers 2-28, Zach Heiniger 1-13, Josh Powers 1-7, Arnold 1-6, Armstrong 1-3. Zionsville, Pavey 10-180, Nick Nikides 3-37, Collin Maher 2-25, Lueders 1-12, Regan Zanes 1-9.